Blue Lacuna — 455 of 475
Aaron A. Reed
Section - Scenes
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A boxy-car is an enterable open undescribed vehicle. It is fixed in place and not openable. The printed name is "boxy vehicle". Understand "boxy/vehicle/car/hatch/hatchway" as boxy-car. The description is "The short, stubby vehicle shudders and grind as it idle, a thin trail of grey-black smoke seeping out from underneath it. The hatchway is open.". Instead of opening boxy-car, try entering boxy-car. Instead of closing boxy-car: say "You rotate the hatchway shut with a squeaking of metal on metal.". After going: remove boxy-car from play.
Report entering boxy-car: say "You duck through the circular hatchway and enter the strange-smelling interior.".
An access slot is in boxy-car. "".
The car interior rule is listed before the room description body text rule in the carry out looking rules. This is the car interior rule: if the player is in boxy-car
]
Table of Panic Plaza ambience
| freq | start time | end time | text | table | trigger | flag |
| common | -- | -- | "People hurry through the mostly deserted streets, expressions of fear on their faces." | |||
| common | -- | -- | "A group of blue-clad soldiers jog through the streets, heavy weapons on their arms." | |||
| common | -- | -- | "A woman pulls two crying children quickly into an underground shelter." | |||
| common | -- | -- | "Distant shouts and whistles drift through the smoke from some other part of the city." | |||
| common | -- | -- | "The wail of sirens and screams floats through the emptying streets." | |||
| common | -- | -- | "A man stuffs jewelry from a broken store window into his coat pockets, but then turns and flees when he notices you." |
The description of Plaza is "[if Islander Bombing is happening]A few military and emergency vehicles gun noisily through the abandoned streets of the plaza, and a few people hurry quickly through the streets, but the plaza is mostly silent now[otherwise]Noise and chaos fill this large circular plaza, ringed with eight- or nine-story [o]buildings[x] and a double set of busy roadways clogged with boxy, smoke-spouting [o]vehicles[x]. [A sentence about the Plaza][end if].[paragraph break][exits]." The exits text of Plaza is "The [d]park[x], half hidden in the center of the plaza, seems like part of another, more peaceful world. [etplaza2]". To say etplaza2: say "[if Islander Bombing has not happened]Four broad avenues run off from the edges of the plaza: signs label them [d]Builder[x], [d]Teacher[x], [d]Mother[x], and [d]Planter[x][otherwise][post bombing streets][end if]". Understand "Builder" as east when location is in Rebelworld and location is not Space Museum. Understand "Teacher" as south when location is in Rebelworld. Understand "Mother" as west when location is in Rebelworld. Understand "Planter" as north when location is in Rebelworld. [This does double duty: both establishes the direction out of the plaza and allows the player to continue along that street/direction.]
To say a sentence about the Plaza: say "[one of][o]People[x] scurry in every direction down sidewalks, up steps, and in and out of buildings[or]The dull roar of urban life washes up and down the concrete and brick of the plaza like a human tide[or]Steam rises from vents in the gutters and vendors call out to oblivious [o]pedestrians[x][or]Electric traffic lights make sharp buzzing hisses as they switch clunkily from one signal to another[or]Dirt and debris swirl in invisible eddies as the wind gutters through the plaza[in random order]".
To say post bombing streets:
say "Heavy barricades block ";
let myctr be 0;
repeat through Table of Cardinal Directions:
if flag entry is 0:
if myctr is 0:
say "[street entry] and ";
now myctr is 1;
else:
say "[street entry] Avenue";
say ", while ";
now myctr is 0;
repeat through Table of Cardinal Directions:
if flag entry is 1:
if myctr is 0:
say "[d][street entry][x] Avenue and ";
now myctr is 1;
else:
say "[d][street entry][x] Avenue";
say " remain open".
To say shortrebname of (loc - a room):
if the printed name of loc is "Builder Avenue" begin; say "Builder";
otherwise if the printed name of loc is "Teacher Avenue"; say "Teacher";
otherwise if the printed name of loc is "Planter Avenue"; say "Planter";
otherwise if the printed name of loc is "Mother Avenue"; say "Mother";
end if.
Some barricades are a setpiece. The description is "Temporary military barricades bristling with barbed wire and sharply worded 'Keep out' signs.". Instead of climbing or pushing or attacking barricades, say "They are bristling with barbed wire; in this borrowed body, you'd better not.".
[TODO: Add cross-street workings. ] [TODO: Add "arbitrary" north/south.]
A rebelcity-room is a kind of room. The exits text of a rebelcity-room is usually "[etrcr]".
To say etrcr:
if Islander Bombing has happened and location is crime scene, say "Progress farther down the avenue is blocked by a flaming crater; only the way back towards the [d]plaza[x] is clear";
otherwise say "[if rebstreet depth is 1]The [d]plaza[x] is visible a short distance away, while opposite, [keyword-name-reb-location] continues[otherwise][keyword-name-reb-location] continues further into the city, away from the distant [d]plaza[x][end if]".
To say keyword-name-reb-location:
repeat through Table of Cardinal Directions begin;
if fullstreet entry is printed name of location, say "[d][street entry][x] Avenue";
end repeat.